Time

It's Monday morning already & the start of a new week.

Last week raced by between the preparation & execution of last Tuesday night's "A Taste of California" event for neighborhood moms & my wife's training day on Saturday in the French Alps. It was a time of working with my wife to help these events happen, while keeping our children healthy & happy.

I met with a new appointee couple who hope to spend a 1-2 year short-term stint in France doing ministry. They are in their mid-20s and a couple of years out of university. After we met in our apartment, we walked to Jim Morrison's & Frédéric Chopin's tombs in the Père Lachaise Cemetary near our home. Both these famous musicians spent some time in the Paris area.

Strolling through this cemetary is a good reminder about time. Our lives are relatively short in the overall scheme of time. Life is a gift. Every day and every breath that God accords us are gifts. What kind of legacy will our lives leave on this earth after we're gone?

While walking through Pere Lachaise, I was reminded that our stillborn daughter's body was cremated there. It struck me for the first time that part of our family is linked with that place. In that way, part of my legacy is already tied with Paris.

This weekend I was privileged to spend a good part of it with my 3 living children. At this point, they still like sitting on my lap and climbing on my back. But it won't always be this way. Each day of life provides additional opportunities to invest in them.

As I can, I'm ripping some of our CDs onto our Ipod. Some of these songs from the 60s & beyond are like old friends. As I hear them, they bring back memories of times with friends from those eras. Ephesians 2:10 says that "we are His workmanship." The Greek work is "poiema" or "poem." The songs of Jim Morrison & Chopin live on today. What kind of poems or songs will our lives leave after we're gone?

Recently my wife & I have enjoyed the movie "The Holiday" that stars Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, and Jack Black. One of my favorite scenes is when the 90 year old legendary screenwriter Arthur (Eli Wallach) enters the auditorium for the gathering to honor him and it's full of applauding friends & fans whom his life & work have influenced positively. That's the kind of legacy that I want to leave.

In the meantime, I have this day in front of me. May it be guided by the hand & voice of the Lord and may it make a difference somehow in the lives of those around me.